Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson | |
---|---|
Born | January 14, 1945 |
Citizenship | USA |
Education | Swarthmore College (1966) |
Occupation | teacher |
Known for | 1970s Weather Underground radical, bomb maker, fugitive |
Children | 1 |
Parent(s) | James Platt Wilkerson, Audrey Olena |
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson (born January 14, 1945), known as Cathy Wilkerson, is an American far-left radical who was a member of the 1970s radical group called the Weather Underground Organization (WUO).[1] She came to the attention of the police when she was leaving the townhouse belonging to her father after it was destroyed by an explosion on March 6, 1970.[2] Members of WUO had been constructing a nail bomb in the basement of the building, intending to use it in an attack on a non-commissioned officers dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey that night.[3] Wilkerson, already free on bail for her involvement in the Chicago "Days of Rage" riots, avoided capture for 10 years.[4][5] She surrendered in 1980 and pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of dynamite. She was sentenced to up to three years in prison and served 11 months.[2][5]
Early years
Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson was born on January 14, 1945.
Early activist work
After graduating from high school, Wilkerson was accepted into
Wilkerson and three other SDS members went to
After that, SDS activist Marilyn Salzman Webb attempted to speak about women's oppression, and SDS men heckled her, shouting, "Take her off the stage and fuck her!" and so forth until she was drowned out.[13][14][15][16] Later, Webb received a threatening phone call which she thought was from Wilkerson, but that was not confirmed, and it may have been from a government agent. In any case, the call contributed to driving apart outspoken feminists in the national SDS and people who put anti-racist and anti-war work before feminism and went toward the Weathermen.[15]
Arrests
In 1963, Wilkerson was arrested in
Joining Weathermen
Wilkerson joined the Chicago Weatherman Collective during the summer of 1969.
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
On the morning of March 6, 1970, there was an
Three members of the WUO were killed in the explosion: Theodore Gold, the 23-year-old leader of a student strike at Columbia University in 1968; Diana Oughton; and Terry Robbins.[2][23] Wilkerson and Boudin stayed overnight at Boudin's parents' house a few blocks away on St. Luke's Place before they both went underground.[24] Wilkerson's father, who owned both houses, was on vacation in the Caribbean.[25] She was charged in absentia with illegal possession of dynamite and criminally negligent homicide and eluded capture for 10 years.[26]
Surrender
On July 23, 1970, Wilkerson and twelve other members of Weather Underground Organization were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to bomb and kill.[27] Placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, some avoided capture for as long as ten years. On March 25, 1977, Phoebe Hirsch and Robert Roth became the first two WUO members to surrender.[28] Wilkerson stayed underground for three more years. She surrendered in 1980 and was tried and convicted of illegal possession of dynamite and sentenced to three years in prison. She was released on a sentencing technicality after serving 11 months, with the judge noting that "her conduct while in jail has been exemplary". New York State's Commissioner of Correctional Services was critical of the early release, calling the judge's action "mistaken". He maintained that many inmates with better disciplinary records remained behind bars because they did not have good lawyers and were black or Hispanic.[5]
Later years
Today, Wilkerson lives in Brooklyn, New York with her partner, criminal defense attorney Susan Tipograph, and is the mother of an adult daughter, Bess, who was born in California while she was underground.[29][30] Wilkerson spent the last 20 years teaching mathematics in high schools and adult education programs.[31] In August 2003, she gave the first telephone interview after not talking to reporters in about 20 years. Although Wilkerson agreed that mistakes were made, she maintained many of the ideas that she supported in the 1960s.[31] Wilkerson wrote a book about her experience in the Weather Underground, Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times As a Weatherman, which was published in 2007.[32]
She criticized the memoir of her former Weatherman Underground colleague,
Books
- Wilkerson, Cathy (1964). Rats, Washtubs and Block Organizations. New York, Distributed by Students for a Democratic Society. OCLC 2311381.
- Wilkerson, Cathy (2010). Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
References
- ^ a b c "Weather Underground Organization (Weatherman)". Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1998–2007. p. 228. Archived from the original on 2008-03-12. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
- ^ a b c d e f Gussow, Mel (March 5, 2000). "The House On West 11th Street". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
- ^ a b Rudd, Mark. "The Kids are All Right". Archived from the original on 2007-05-03. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
- ^ a b c d e f Charlton, Linda (1970-03-16). "Cathlyn Wilkerson: Portrait of a Young Revolutionary". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ a b c Shipp, E. R. (1981-12-24). "Correction Chief Critical Of Wilkerson Probation". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Fee via Fairfax County Public Library, accessed 2009-06-07. Document Number: K2017834261.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ^ a b clarissakennedyjacob (2013-05-06). "Susan Faludi on Shulamith Firestone, The New Yorker | The Women & Film Project". Womenandfilmproject.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ISBN 978-1-904859-41-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-231-11057-0.
- ^ Gessen, Keith (2012-09-26). "n+1: On Shulamith Firestone, Part One". Nplusonemag.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- United States Government Printing Office. Washington, DC. January 1975.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ISBN 978-1-58322-771-8.
- ^ Franks, Lucinda (1981-11-22). "The Seeds of Terror". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Robinson, Douglas (1970-03-11). "Bombs, Dynamite and Woman's Body Found in Ruins of 11th St. Townhouse". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
- ^ a b The Brinks Robbery of 1981 – The Crime Library – The Crime library Archived February 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- New York, New York: Katrina vanden Heuvel. Archived from the originalon 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ Clendinen, Dudley (23 July 1981). "A City Town House, Risen from Ashes". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
- ^ "Underground leader gives up after 10 years". Tallahassee Democrat. 1980-07-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
- ^ Flint, Jerry (1970-07-24). "13 WEATHERMEN INDICTED IN PLOTS; U.S. Grand Jury in Detroit Charges Bombing Plans". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ "2 Weather Underground Members Give Up After 7 Years as Fugitives". The New York Times. 1977-04-15. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ Alyssa Galella (October 10, 2007). "Activist spark is still burning for a survivor of explosion". The Villager. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
- ^ "Shaking Off the Dust of the Underground". NY Press. November 14, 2007.
- ^ a b Wakin, Daniel (2003-08-24). "Quieter Lives for 60's Militants, but Intensity of Beliefs Hasn't Faded". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ "Flying Close to the Sun, My Life and Times as a Weatherman". Archived from the original on 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ^ Jesse Lemisch (Summer 2006). "Weather Underground Rises from the Ashes: They're Baack!". New Politics.